


The High Priestess

by xxx_mlggamer_xxx



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7394950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxx_mlggamer_xxx/pseuds/xxx_mlggamer_xxx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henley Reeves isn't one of the Horsemen anymore. But that doesn't mean that she hasn't been looking out for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The High Priestess

“The Horsemen crashed the Octa presentation, but it seemed that the trick was, in fact, on them.”

Henley looked up at the tinny voice of the anchor. She was sitting in a pub, in the middle of the U.K - as off the map as she could get without compromising her own standards of living (which were pretty low, of course - you saw the apartment she was living in during the infamous ‘year of living dangerously.”).

The footage was being played back - and there they were.

Her boys.

Henley had seen Danny and Merritt on the news before now - but this time was different. For the first time, since, well, since Henley couldn’t even remember, something went wrong.

In all the panic, she hardly had time to notice the girl (although she _did_ notice the girl, with a pang of jealousy). Jack was exposed. Merritt lost his cool. _Dylan_ was _outsmarted_.

And,call her crazy, say she’s still pining, tell her her priorities aren’t anywhere near straight, but all she could focus on was Danny.

Something was wrong with Danny.

And, as angry as she was at him, as much as she didn’t want to forgive him (she _wasn’t_ forgiving him), she couldn’t help but worry.

What else was new?

 

_The Eye had been quiet for about six months now, and everyone was getting a little antsy._

_Merritt and Jack were out. Again. It seems that the older man had asked the younger for some lessons - some card-flinging, some sleight of hand, the whole shebang. Merritt offered some mentalism lessons in return. Whether he was hanging out with Jack to actually learn how to throw cards, or he hoped some of the younger’s youth would rub off on him, no one could tell._

_Danny was getting nervous._

_He was tossing a deck of cards between either of his hands, his leg was bouncing without his notice, he seemed to check his phone every two minutes. He would disappear for hours at a time, and when anyone asked what he was up to, he would shrug jerkily, wave his hands dismissively, and not actually answer the question._

_Henley was just sick of the tapping._

_“Danny?”_

_Tap, tap, tap._

_“Danny, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”_

_Tap, tap, tap._

_“Danny - we said we were going to try this again - that means communication. You know that, right?”_

_Tap, tap, tap._

_“Danny -”_

_“Okay, will you just --- will you just -j-stop?!” His shoulders tensed, he stood up angrily, the palms of his hand pressed against his eyes. “Look - I’m FINE, okay?? I don’t need you to - I don’t know why you-- I just--” He dropped his hands. He turned on his heel. He sent her a withering glare._

_That was it._

_That was the last straw._

_“Danny - I had tried to make this work. I have tried to help you - just, for once in your life, let someone help you. All you ever do is boss us - boss ME - around, and I’m sick of it.” Danny had yet to drop his glare, but his shoulders slumped minutely. But Henley was a little to angry to notice. “I thought that this Horsemen thing was supposed to make us EQUALS. I thought that maybe - just MAYBE, you learned to appreciate me - appreciate all of us! But no - you’re still nothing but a shallow, ridiculous, arrogant, micromanaging, know-it-all CONTROL FREAK - - sociopath!”_

_Henley wanted to kick something. She wanted to kick_ Danny _. Instead, she just stormed out, leaving Danny with his stupid cards. With his stupid, stupid magic._

_That night she decided to stay in a hotel. And the texts came flooding in._

_\-- Hey, are  you okay? I heard what happened. I’m always here, talk to me  -- from Dylan._

_\-- Where are you? We’re all really worried -- from Jack._

_\-- Atlas is an idiot. Reeves, we need you. Where are you staying? I’ll bring ice cream and Dirty Dancing -- from Merritt._

_The one text she didn’t get (because, unbeknownst to her, it sat forever in Danny’s message box, unsent), was an apology._

 

There was something different about Danny now.

He looked older - as if more than a year had passed since the last time she had seen him.His posture was more hunched than it normally was during a performance. He was wringing his hands while he talked, his vision was scattered - his eyes were darting at every audience member.

He was smiling for his audience, yes, but Henley, who liked to think of herself as a bit of a J. Daniel Atlas expert, recognized the stress in his posture. That little twinkle in his eye - the one he got when the audience gasped and clapped at the magic  - was gone.

Was he even enjoying this?

Merritt was calling him “Atlas.” Atlas? Danny always pretended to hate “Danny” -  demanding that, if anything, they call him Daniel. But Atlas? It seemed impersonal - especially with Merritt.

He cut his hair.

His beautiful, long hair. That was what really threw Henley for a loop. Danny always loved his hair.

She always loved his hair. Running her fingers through it, ruffling it teasingly, petting it reassuringly, only to have her hands batted away his annoyed ones.

Was this all because of her?

The girl’s - Lula’s- mic cut out suddenly, and Henley saw the immediate panic in Danny’s eyes as he tried to recover. The panic that only got worse when the lights went out, when mysterious, mechanical voice started speaking, when the spotlights found Jack and Dylan and everything went wrong.

She had only seen that panic once before.

 

_The first time Henley met Danny, she was at one of his shows. He had just “magically” put his lovely “sawed in half” assistant back together. He had said something - something completely Danny-like, at it had resulted in the girl getting up out of the box, slapping in the face, and walking out - shouting “mail me my things!” as she did so._

_Danny had stood there, frozen, for half a beat, before mumbling something about the show being over and bolting. The audience jeered, groaned, and left demanding refunds. Henley snuck backstage, and there he was._

_He was hunched over, wedged in between the couch and the green room wall, holding his head in between his legs and hyperventilating, muttering to himself that it was going to be okay, even if his career was probably over and now he had nothing to live for._

_When Henley knocked, Danny practically jumped to his feet, looking at her with wide, scared eyes._

_“W-w-” Danny swallowed, trying to recollect himself. “What do you want?”_ _  
_ _Henley didn’t know what she wanted. She wanted to help._

_She crouched down until they were looking at one another properly. She held out a gloved hand and smiled kindly. “I’m Henley Reeves - and it was recently made clear to me that you have an assistant position available.”_

 

She gripped her phone and hoped Dylan hadn’t changed his number.

\-- Tell me they’re okay --

 

A few hellish days later, Henley finally got her response.

\-- Things were a little touch and go for a while, but everything’s okay. We’ll be in London for New Years. --

Henley got off the train, into the bustling, nervous station. Energy buzzed, everyone excited about the Horsemen - where they would appear, what they would do, if they were finally bested by the mysterious voice at the Octa Presentation. Who the new girl was.

Through all the craziness, Henley finally found time to be jealous. Lula had a natural chemistry with the guy - and Henley felt herself a bit.. Well, a bit replaced.

She looked down at her phone, for no reason other than habit. After all, she had already memorized the locations that Dylan had texted her. It was nice to know that, after everything that happened, she was still trusted

 

Watching Jack preform, she couldn’t help but feel like a proud mother. He was flashing his flirty grin at practically every girl there, and apologetic ones to their significant others. She knew how he was doing the trick - she was a magician, after all, but she still clapped and cheered because finally, _finally_ _,_ this was Jack’s time in the spotlight.

And the crowd loved him.

Nothing changed with Jack.

As much as Henley wanted to stay, to watch Jack perform until he saw her (His easy smile would drop, he would forget the audience, he would hug her and say how much he’s missed her and how screwed they’d been without her, and she would hug him back and the whole thing would probably end in tears as the audience looked on, confused), Henley had to rush off to see Lula’s show.

After all, she wanted to know just how _good_ her replacement really was.

 

Lula was _good_. She was funny, she was charming, and she had a surprising amount of doves.

"You _liked_ that? That guy had a bird in his pants!! You support that relationship?!?"

Of course Henley had looked her up. A bit of a magic geek - pulling a hat out of a rabbit (although those videos were about eight years old) and all that jazz, but nothing really incredibly spectacular. But, she was good. She entertained the crowd, she had a ready smile and loose posture. She was nervous, yes, but she was witty and sarcastic, and Henley felt like maybe, _just maybe_ , she left the boys in good hands.

Henley wanted to see if she was as good as levitating an entire _boat_ , though. She figured she wouldn’t, but was still disappointed that she couldn’t stick around to see the finale of Lula’s act.

After all, there was someone else Henley needed to see.

 

"Now, I've been told that I can be a bit of a control freak!"

_But no - you’re still nothing but a shallow, ridiculous, arrogant, micromanaging, know-it-all CONTROL FREAK!!_

"So I'm gonna control something a lot easier than people..."

There he was.

J. Daniel Atlas.

There were spotlights, and rain, and Henley couldn’t help but think that _nothing_ could make this more of a freaking rom com than it already was. Except for the fact that they weren’t in love. (She didn’t love him. She didn’t.)

But this was _Danny_. The one that got away. The one who caused her nothing but grief. The one who left her with nothing. The one she had every right to hate with every fiber of her body.

“Stop.”

But the lights started flashing, and everyone freaked out, and Danny was looked up at the sky and he was smiling.

And, in the middle of all the chaos, he looked like he was walking on air.

Of course. This is where Danny was meant to be. In the middle of a cheering crowd, with a smile plastered on his face and a blinding spotlight shining on him from every direction. With his stupid, stupid magic.

And, after everything, Henley couldn’t help but smile _for_ him.

“And let’s just.. _Freak out_ ” He waved his hands dramatically, the strobe lights flashed, and the rain seemed to go in every direction. He looked around the crowd with a mix of smugness and childlike glee. With Lula, Henley was invisible. It made sense - this was Lula’s first _real_ show, and Henley wasn’t one of the horsemen anymore. With Jack, Henley had hid herself pretty well behind the other pretty girls, and, in reality, this was one of his first times in the spotlight, too.

Danny, on the other hand, always knew where to look. And he looked _right at her_.

She was frozen where she stood. He seemed about the same.

They looked into each other’s eyes, and it seemed like eternity. But, in reality, it was only about a second before his attention was pulled away from her by a quick glance at his phone.

He quickly signed off, explained the lights and the fans the rain machines, waved goodbye to the audience, and fell back into the puddles that formed at his feet.

And, while the crowd swarmed the clothes that were left behind, grasping desperately and confused at the clothes that stayed behind (Henley didn’t want to think about any of the implications _there_ ), all she could think was of the last glance that Danny had sent her way, with his eyebrows quirked in a smile that seemed, almost, was that _apologetic_?

Maybe there were still some things about Danny that she didn’t know.

 

It was New Year’s Day, now, and the Horsemen had disappeared, again. The plane, the reveal, the kiss between Jack and Lula - so much had happened.

And Henley? Well, Henley was going home - home to her tiny apartment and her cozy pub and her books. As much as she missed the Horsemen, she had to admit she missed her chance. And that left a massive, aching hole in her chest.

Because she was proud of her boys, and she was proud of Lula. But she couldn’t deny that she was jealous. And she regret it.

But her leaving, it was for the best. Wasn’t it?

Henley was drawn from the flashing trees and plains out the train window by the buzzing of her phone. She stared at the text for a little while, and she couldn’t deny the tears in her eyes and the smile that was threatening to split her face in two.

It was for the best. It was all worth it. She would pine for a while, but, eventually, she would grow up. Henley Reeves could move on.

\-- I’m sorry.--

 

And, miles away, J. Daniel Atlas was thinking that, maybe he could too.


End file.
